Haverfordwest can progress in Europe - Pennock

Tony Pennock led Haverfordwest County to third place in the Cymru Premier in 2024-25

Tony Pennock believes Haverfordwest County have shown they have enough quality to turn around their Uefa Conference League tie against Floriana.

Haverfordwest trail the Maltese side 2-1 heading into Thursday's first qualifying round second leg at Parc y Scarlets (18:00 BST).

The Cymru Premier club took the lead in Malta last week and were only beaten by a debatable second-half penalty.

And Pennock says his team of part-time players should have belief going into the return fixture.

"It's going to be a tough one - Floriana are a good side and we have got to turn round a deficit," said the Haverfordwest boss.

"But we go into the game with a lot of confidence because we competed well with them in the first leg.

"We went into that game not really knowing what we were up against, whereas now we know a bit more about the opposition. The boys should definitely take confidence from the first game."

This is just the third European campaign in the history of Haverfordwest, whose one previous victory in continental competition came when they fought back after losing the away leg to beat Shkendija on penalties at the Cardiff City Stadium two years ago.

Prize money in the Conference League is significant for the Bluebirds, who have earned around £280,000 for reaching this stage and will bank around £170,000 more should they reach the next round.

Thursday's winners will quickly be back in continental action, with a second qualifying round first leg tie to come away to Kosovan side Ballkani on Tuesday, 22 July.

"We had a crowd of more than 2,000 last time up in Cardiff, which is a lot further from Haverfordwest than Llanelli, so hopefully there will be another good turnout for this one," Pennock said.

"I am guessing there will be a good walk-up crowd on the night, and that's important for the boys."